The invention relates to a tobacco product for the personal preparation of a cigarette, in particular a filter cigarette, and to a method for the personal preparation of a cigarette, in particular a filter cigarette, using a tobacco product of this type.
The production of cigarettes by the consumer has been known in many forms for a long time. This is true above all for so-called "roll-your-own" cigarettes using small pieces of cigarette paper provided with an adhesive edge. Rolling one's own cigarettes requires a certain manual dexterity and a certain consumption of time. Even with persons practised in rolling their own cigarettes, the cigarettes vary considerably as regards to size (diameter). firmness (roundness) and degree of filling over the length of the cigarette and form solely a primitive substitute for industrially produced cigarettes. The inevitable crumbling of tobacco is also a drawback, the tobacco yield suffering thereby. These same problems occur--even if to a lesser extent--when using self-rolling appliances.
The same is true for the other basic type of individual production of cigarettes, namely the individual filling of cigarettes. A series of more or less convenient appliances exists for filling empty cigarette sleeves (normally with a filter member) with tobacco, an elongated pressing chamber is common to all the conventional appliances, which chamber is defined on one side by an approximately hemispherical, stationary wall portion and on the other side by an inversely hemispherical surface of a movable pressing beam which can close the pressing chamber after filling with tobacco, thus producing a rod-like tobacco supply. One end face of the pressing chamber includes mounting socket for applying and mounting an empty cigarette sleeve. At the opposite end, the pressing chamber is defined by a piston-like tobacco ejection slide, by means of which the supply of tobacco can be transferred from the pressing chamber into the cigarette sleeve. These known filling appliances have proved more or less satisfactory in practice. They nevertheless have the drawback that the prime costs for the initial equipment are relatively high on account of the partially quite complicated constructions for operating the ejection slide, so that in this respect a certain inhibiting threshold must be overcome by the consumer. Furthermore, when filling the pressing chamber, a certain contamination of the user's hands and of the surrounding area with tobacco residues or crumbs cannot be avoided, which is partly felt to be troublesome and frequently deters the user from using the same. Finally, a degree of filling of the pressing chamber and thus of the cigarette sleeve which is always constant, is not possible with manual filling. Cigarettes filled in this way are characterized by variable smoking performance, namely a varying suction, taste and different length of smoking duration. In this respect, the personally filled cigarettes behave in the same way as the personally rolled cigarette. Also, the content of harmful substances in the cigarette personally filled or personally rolled in a conventional manner varies greatly and uncontrollably according to the various degrees of filling of the cigarette sleeve.
To obviate the afore-mentioned drawbacks. European Pat. No. EP-A-123 150 proposes a tobacco product for the personal preparation of cigarettes by the consumer, which is characterised by a pre-fabricated product, which is not smokeable as such, in the form of a tobacco cartridge prefabricated in a factory, consisting of a rod sheath open at the end face and adapted by its diameter to the cigarette paper sleeve of the finished cigarette and of a rod-like tobacco filling respectively corresponding to a cigarette portion, which can be transferred by an associated piston adapted to the inner diameter of the rod sheath, from the rod sheath into an empty cigarette paper sleeve. This tobacco product is suitable both for use in conjunction with conventional personal filling cigarette sleeves as well as in conjunction with conventional personal rolling cigarette paper pieces. According to the basic idea of this proposal, the consumer has an exactly measured quantity of tobacco in the form of a cigarette tobacco cartridge, corresponding to the filling quantity of a conventional industrial consumer cigarette. The tobacco filling of the cartridge can be transferred in a simple manner into a pre-formed cigarette sleeve of commercially available type or into a cigarette sleeve stuck together from a small piece of individual rolling cigarette paper.
Although the last-mentioned proposal is quite a considerable improvement with respect to the afore-mentioned prior art, it should not be overlooked that the tobacco cartridge comprises a wrapping, namely a rod sheath, of non-smokeable material. As regards the end product, namely the "cigarette", the rod sheath represents a superfluous aid which can only be used once. Furthermore, in the last-mentioned proposal, further aids are required for transferring the pre-portioned tobacco supply from the rod sheath into the cigarette paper sleeve, namely a loose tobacco transfer rod which can be operated hands off. The operation of the latter without further aids for introducing the filled tobacco cartridge into the empty cigarette paper sleeve and for fixing the rod sheath of the tobacco cartridge at the time of transfer of the tobacco supply, must create the greatest difficulties even for persons accustomed to preparing their own cigarettes. Various means or applicances for transferring the tobacco from the rod sheath into a cigarette paper sleeve are proposed in German Pat. No. DE-B-33 43 402 and European Pat. No. EP-A-84 111 150.3, in order to obviate these operating difficulties. However, lastly, even with this system for the personal preparation of the cigarette, one is dependant on additional aids.
German Pat. No. EP-A-155 514, which is attributed to the Applicant, proposes for the first time a tobacco product which allows personal preparation of cigarettes without aids, such as a tobacco transfer rod or the like and with which there is also no longer a rod sheath to be thrown away. This tobacco product consists of an inherently stable tobacco portion adapted to the tobacco filling of a finished cigarette and the surface of which is formed from a wrapping of completely smokeable material, the surface being so permeable to air that the tobacco portion as such cannot be smoked and is only smokeable after tight wrapping of its surface with cigarette paper or the like. A tobacco product constructed in a similar manner is proposed by EP-A-178 605, in which case according to a preferred embodiment, the diameter of the tobacco portion is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the cigarette paper sleeve of the finished cigarette, in order to facilitate the introduction of the tobacco portion into the pre-formed cigarette paper sleeve. However, in order that the tobacco portion bears in a tight manner against the cigarette paper, for smoking, the diameter of the tobacco portion must be increased by the user by subsequent mechanical manipulation of the tobacco portion. The patent discloses manually breaking the wrapping of the tobacco portion after insertion in the cigarette paper sleeve. The wrapping of the tobacco portion or the rod sheath of the same is preferably provided with perforations, which extends over the axial length of the tobacco portion along a helix and which--in conjunction with the thinness of the rod sheath material--facilitates breaking of the wrapping with the desired variability of diameter by movement of the tobacco portion in opposition to the direction of rotation of the perforation helix. This type of rod sheath perforation should also facilitate a reduction of the diameter of the tobacco portion, in that one twists the latter in the direction of rotation of the perforation helix. However, this system requires instruction and a not inconsiderable skill because twisting of the tobacco portion requires that the tobacco portion be located with one end outside the cigarette paper sleeve, so that it can be gripped between thumb and forefinger. The opposite end of the tobacco portion located in the cigarette paper sleeve must likewise be held between the thumb and forefinger of the user's other hand during the twisting. In this system production of visible pressure points on the cigarette paper sleeve cannot be avoided. In the case of unskilled operation, the danger exists that the cigarette paper sleeve may break open and thus the cigarette is completely unsmokeable. It is also conceivable that the end of the tobacco portion projecting from the cigarette paper sleeve is broken open under radial expansion so that it can no longer be completely inserted in the cigarette paper sleeve without destroying the same at the particularly fragile insertion end. The reduction of diameter also proposed in European Pat. No. EP-A-178 605, with twisting of the tobacco portion, seems doubtful as regards its feasibility, since this necessitates the maintenance of the desired deformation of the tobacco portion for the purpose of insertion in a pre-formed cigarette paper sleeve. This requirement thus contradicts the subsequently desired radial expansion of the tobacco portion by inverse manipulation of the latter by the user. In all, the variability of diameter of the tobacco portion by mechanical manipulation of the latter by the user proposed in European Pat. No. EP-A-178 605 proves extremely difficult and not easy to carry out; in any case, it requires considerable dexterity on the part of the user.